One justification I could see for him is that Leyland doesn't have confidence in Rondon as closer and is gonna go closer by committee, throwing the best arms he has in the tightest situations. I don't think that'll happen, since everyone is married to having a closer, but it would be a decent idea since Smyly can throw hard and K high.

Not trying to jinx shit here since I'm a pretty big Brandon Belt fan (HOOK EM), but he's destroying the baseball in spring. 8 homers so far. Of course spring stats mean nothing, but this could be his year to put it all together.

Who do you think the closer ultimately will be? I'm assuming they go committee as well to start off and then let it develop from there.

I'd personally want a closer by committee. Coke did a great job in the postseason but had a pretty bad L/R split last year. Have him and Dotel split opps based on matchup.

What'll likely happen? I have no idea. It won't be a committee, but Rondon's spring performances haven't exactly been assuring them of anything. Dotel has some experience closing (although that's an overrated argument) so I'd expect him to start with Benoit as 8th and Rondon working less stress innings early on. It's really a crapshoot, though. DD and Leyland could be stubborn and want to prove that Rondon is capable of doing the job and that they were right all along. I really have no idea.

St. Louis Cardinals dishing out 5 years, $97 million to Adam Wainwright.

For the offers they were rumored to be getting, hell yes. Besides, after Smyly, they have virtually no depth. Their #7 guy (Casey Crosby) has had arm surgeries early on in his career and has poor control. He'd be quite awful for anything more than 2-3 starts. And that's all the backup they have after Smyly. Healthy season please *crosses fingers*.

Not trying to jinx shit here since I'm a pretty big Brandon Belt fan (HOOK EM), but he's destroying the baseball in spring. 8 homers so far. Of course spring stats mean nothing, but this could be his year to put it all together.

Ryan Raburn tore it up last spring. He obviously doesn't have the potential of Belt, but I'll proceed with caution on Belt.

Not trying to jinx shit here since I'm a pretty big Brandon Belt fan (HOOK EM), but he's destroying the baseball in spring. 8 homers so far. Of course spring stats mean nothing, but this could be his year to put it all together.

I've been preaching this, yep. Obviously, spring training means different things for different players and in the end, it's meaningless anyway, but I tend to draw some conclusions based on it. For instance, Belt's batting mechanics are vastly improved from last season. Although he'll never be Belt in power or OBP., Brandon Crawford's also having a very, very nice spring and he's already got the wizard glove at SS. I want to believe in these two kids. But we'll see.

At the same time, Tim Lincecum keeps convincing me he's still the same Lincecum from last year. But, as with the aforementioned optimism, the pessimisim with Lincecum carries no weight whatsoever at this point.

For the offers they were rumored to be getting, hell yes. Besides, after Smyly, they have virtually no depth. Their #7 guy (Casey Crosby) has had arm surgeries early on in his career and has poor control. He'd be quite awful for anything more than 2-3 starts. And that's all the backup they have after Smyly. Healthy season please *crosses fingers*.

Yep... It would have been foolish to trade Porcello to the Padres/Cardinals/Rangers for anything they were being offered in exchange.

I foresee a July trade for bullpen depth by the Tigers. "Closer by committee" has many benefits but some pitfalls as I learned last year. For the most part, though, I'm fine with it. Bochy was slow to get to Romo after Casilla started melting down in late June and through most of July last year, but at least not having a "certified closer" enabled them to get to Romo in spite of the strawhat complaints against him ("Erm, he's too small!").

The Giants have sold more merch than any team in baseball since the end of last season. Buster Posey is the top selling jersey.

More info from the actual story linked above:

Quote:

The tally: 1) Giants; 2) Yankees; 3) Cardinals; 4) Red Sox; 5) Tigers. As far as individual jerseys go, Posey is on top followed by Derek Jeter, Miguel Cabrera, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. If you measure only since the beginning of March, Josh Hamilton slips in at number three, Chase Utley at number four, Cabrera is pushed down to five and Harper and Trout fall off the list.

***

The Marlins are close to bringing back Miguel Olivo through a signing.

That is curious. Astros going to mimic what the Rockies do at the MLB level throughout their farm system? Odd. Lunhow is a smart guy, and this does make much more sense than how the Rockies did this with their big club in 2012.

Honestly why watch any other game opening day but GIANTS/DODGERS? So much fucking hype. The team that defies the odds and courageously triumphs vs the team that tries to buy the world and still falls short. Good vs. Evil right here, folks.